As we navigate the complexities of God's character, we find stories of plagues and Passover that connect us to the ancient biblical narrative. Pastor Chip Dean guides us through these tales, showing how they point to the central figure of Jesus in our lives. We learn that embracing the mystery of God does not require full comprehension but rather a heart open to the transformative journey from sin to redemption. This exploration is not just a history lesson; it's a roadmap to understanding our place in God's story.
Wrapping up, the episode pivots to powerful themes of patience, judgment, and salvation. We delve into Moses's call and God's power, reflecting on the significance of the Old Testament plagues and their connection to modern-day experiences of grace. Pastor Chip Dean leads us in worshipful prayer, reinforcing the joy of repentance and the importance of living a life that radiates the glory due to God. Join us for a heartfelt reflection on divine deliverance and the beauty of a life dedicated to serving Him.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
As we navigate the complexities of God's character, we find stories of plagues and Passover that connect us to the ancient biblical narrative. Pastor Chip Dean guides us through these tales, showing how they point to the central figure of Jesus in our lives. We learn that embracing the mystery of God does not require full comprehension but rather a heart open to the transformative journey from sin to redemption. This exploration is not just a history lesson; it's a roadmap to understanding our place in God's story.
Wrapping up, the episode pivots to powerful themes of patience, judgment, and salvation. We delve into Moses's call and God's power, reflecting on the significance of the Old Testament plagues and their connection to modern-day experiences of grace. Pastor Chip Dean leads us in worshipful prayer, reinforcing the joy of repentance and the importance of living a life that radiates the glory due to God. Join us for a heartfelt reflection on divine deliverance and the beauty of a life dedicated to serving Him.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Good morning and welcome again to First Baptist Church, powder Springs. You can open up your Bible with me to Exodus, chapter five, as we are going through a series together called why we Worship. It is so good to see each and every one of you this morning because what an honor it is just to go through God's word together on his day, even on a rainy April Sunday. Can I get an amen? So we're talking together, we worship, and the reason I want to give you this morning why you are called to worship, or a motivation for you worshiping God this week, is because God is a God who both judges and saves. God is a God who judges sin and yet he saves sinners. But first I want to remind you and let you know about next Sunday. Everybody say next Sunday.
Speaker 1:Next Sunday is Pastor Mark Perry's, last Sunday with us as a church because he is retiring after nearly 46 years of ministry. He's been with us almost six years. Put your hands together right now for Pastor Mark Perry. We're so thankful for him. He is, if you don't know, pastor Mark. He is the traditional worship pastor or the worship pastor in our sanctuary over our choir and orchestra service, and he is just unbelievable. We love him so much.
Speaker 1:There's going to be a special retirement service for him next Sunday in the sanctuary. It's going to start a little early at 9 15. We'll still have our regular worship service in here. You can always go to both if you want to Worship service in here at 11 o'clock and right after this service we'll have a special reception for Pastor Mark, and Suzanne and his family will be here. Their family will be here for that. So we want you to come and to be a part of that special day next Sunday, also not this Thursday, but the next Thursday. It's going to be May the 2nd. It's when we celebrate, when we honor National Day of Prayer, and so, from what I understand, our city and churches in our city are all going to come together down at the park, at the amphitheater, where there'll be prayer and worship and a message, and I'll be a part of that service. And I would love for you to come and bring your lawn chair and wear your First Baptist Church Powder Springs paraphernalia and you can wear everything you got the logo on, even bring your logo cups, and we can just show people who we are as the church, that we get to gather together here and be a part also of what God is doing, even greater than our church, in our city, in our community, in our nation and around the world, with National Day of Prayer. Can I get an amen? So that will be in here in two weeks. So here we go. We're going to look in Exodus 5 together. Let me pray and we'll get started.
Speaker 1:Heavenly Father, we love you. God, you're so good. And, father, we pray in Jesus' name, lord, that you would speak to us during this time. God, we know it's not a song, we know it's not a sermon that changes our life. God, it's you, it's your spirit, it's through your son, and so, father, we just pray this morning on a special outpouring of your spirit. God, help us to see what we need to see, to hear what we need to hear, to change what we need to change, to live how we need to live. God, all for your glory, we pray all these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know about you, but I was raised in a little bit of an old school, old-fashioned home where, back in the days, when I broke the rules, I got what they would call a spanking. Can I get an amen, I would get a. You've never gotten a spanking before man, I've gotten a spanking. And I was just kind of thinking through this passage of scripture and I was remembering that my parents were disciplinarians, were disciplinarians Now, they were loving disciplinarians, but they were disciplinarians nonetheless. So when I would get in trouble, then typically there was different forms of discipline that they would practice with me, whether it be a timeout, or they would take something away from me for a time, or, if they just wanted to, just to do it quick and easy and get done with it. It'd be the old-fashioned, old-school spanking. And there was one spanking, probably the worst spanking that I ever got. I can't remember what I did wrong, but my mom spanked me. She spanked me pretty good, from what she tells me, and I looked up at her and I said these words mom, that didn't even hurt, that didn't even hurt, you know to which she made sure that the very next spanking I got was probably within seconds. That she made sure that it hurt, right, to make sure that I learned my lesson. I thought I was getting big and tough at that time.
Speaker 1:I remember another time that my parents said hey, you're going to get, we can't do it right now, but we're gonna give you a spanking. I knew it was coming, so I went out in the backyard and I found like the flattest board for whatever reason I could find, and I put that flat board in my underwear like they would never even see it. I put it back in my underwear, so I come in with like big old baggy shirt on and they're like all right, son, it's time to get your whooping. And so you know, I pull my shirt up, pull my pants down, and thought they'd never see it. There's a big board right there. And so I'm sure, like I would do as a parent today, that they probably laughed and then I probably got it even worse, right, even worse.
Speaker 1:But there was also one thing that I always remember my parents doing. After any time they disciplined me, no matter what that discipline was, is that they hugged me and they told me that they loved me. They hugged me and they told me they loved me. Generally, they did that right after they lied to me, right after they said now, this hurts us worse than it hurts you. That's a lie. That is a lie. The spanking always hurts worse.
Speaker 1:But now that I'm the parent and I've learned from my parents that I am called to be a good, biblical, godly parent who loves my kids enough to discipline them. Do I want to discipline my kids in any way? No, I don't enjoy it whatsoever. But if I want to be a good parent, I must both love them and I must discipline them. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:As parents, we are called to love and we're called to discipline and we're called to lovingly discipline that. I love to wrap up Brooklyn after she goes through a time again, whatever form of discipline that is, and I just wrap her up in my arms and I just tell her I love you and I don't want to discipline you. I want you to do the right thing and I want you to know that the reason that is so important as we are raising up the next generation, that we are called to be loving disciplinarians as parents, is because that God himself is a loving disciplinarian. And that's why, this morning, that we're talking about the reason that we worship God, because he both judges and he saves, because God is, hear me, both a God of judgment and a God of salvation.
Speaker 1:And let's just be real honest, that is difficult for us to fathom, that's difficult for us to understand. That's difficult for us to comprehend. How can God be a God of judgment and wrath and anger, but yet he'd be a God of love and grace and mercy? The reason that's so difficult for us to understand is because God is so infinite and he's so perfect that we will never understand his infinity, that he is perfection in both of these areas and they're all bound up, all in this same being, who is God Father, son and Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:And so sometimes a temptation is when we don't understand God. Then we question whether or not we can even know him. But I cannot just assure you and encourage you that even when you go through seasons and times in your life that you don't understand him, or why he's doing what he's doing or why he's allowing what he is allowing, that even in times that you don't understand him, you can still know him. It's kind of like your spouse You'll never understand your spouse, but it doesn't mean you don't know him. You'll never understand your kids perfectly, why they do what they do, but that doesn't mean you can't know them. The Bible says that we don't even know our, we can't even understand our own hearts, but yet we feel like we know ourselves. God is so has so much infinity to him, he's limitless, he is so transcendent and set apart from us that in this life, in this world, you, we, will never understand him perfectly. But yet the Bible says we can still know him fully. So that's why I want us to study this morning these two difficult sides of God that we all see wrapped together in this one story.
Speaker 1:This morning that we're going to look at some nine different chapters, from eight different chapters from Exodus 5 to Exodus 12, talking about the plagues that God put on Egypt and the Passover that God delivered Israel, that God is a God of the plagues and God is a God of the Passover, and how it all has to do with your life. Now, one thing that I want to remind you of is we are going through this story of Exodus. We've already been through all of Genesis. We're working through Exodus and, lord willing, he's calling us to go through all of the Bible together in the next coming years, and the reason is there's nothing more important in our life than to understand the story of the word of God. We need to understand the whole counsel of God's word, and when we go through the Old Testament.
Speaker 1:We have to make sure that we don't read the Old Testament like somebody else's mail, that we don't just read it about somebody else's life and that was cute and that was interesting, but that has nothing to do with me. No, the Old Testament has everything to do with you, but the Old Testament doesn't first have to do with me. No, the Old Testament has everything to do with you, but the Old Testament doesn't first have to do with you. The Old Testament first has to do with Jesus, first has to do with Jesus. See, we see in the scriptures that Jesus even tells us that the whole Bible ultimately teaches us about him first and foremost, and then secondly about ourselves. In other words, you can just write this down. It won't be on the screen. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 6 says Now, these things in the Old Testament took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Now, these things in the Old Testament happened to them, as an example to us, and they were written down for our instruction. So whenever we read or whenever we hear the Old Testament, I want to encourage you to put yourself in the story that Jesus is the hero of the story and to put yourself in the story as a participant, as though you are living through all of the stages of these stories, such as Moses.
Speaker 1:We talked last week how Moses had just heard from God and God called Moses out of all people. Moses couldn't believe it. Moses tried to talk God out of it. God called Moses out of all people to deliver his people, god's people, from slavery. They had been enslaved by the Egyptians for 430 years, and I love when God called Moses to go and to deliver the people that Moses had. He had five excuses for God why this wasn't a good idea. God, these are five things you have not thought of of why you shouldn't call me, and I love that. God had a reason, not just a response, a reason for every excuse. Did you know that God has more reasons for what he's called you to than you have excuses? In fact, what God calls you to is always bigger than you, just like what God called Moses to was bigger than him. God wants to call us to things that are bigger than us so that we have to depend on him to accomplish it in his power, because it cannot be done in your own power, in our own power. We see that God told him. This is what I want you to do. So we see here the plagues are revealing the judgment of God. Check this out Exodus 5, one through two.
Speaker 1:Afterward, moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said who is the Lord? Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I don't know the Lord and, moreover, I will not let Israel go. Now, in this time and in this culture, pharaoh himself was a God to his people. And so Pharaoh is saying who do you think your God is to your people? I'm the God of my people, I'm the God of my country, I'm the God of my land, and I don't even recognize, I don't even know your God. You know, there is something so powerful about knowing the Lord and here's what I believe, a truth that we see in Scripture that when we know the Lord is when we obey the Lord, and when we don't obey the Lord, when our life is full of not obeying the Lord in his voice, then that is what gives us an evidence that we do not personally know.
Speaker 1:The Lord Moses has to be so confused at this time. He's got to be thinking God, what in the world is going on? You called me out of the palace of Egypt, out of the palace of the Pharaoh. You called me to Midian. You came to me in a burning bush. You called me to deliver your people. And now I came up to Pharaoh and Pharaoh said no, god, what kind of a God are you? Did I mishear you? Did I misread you? Did you misspeak? You called me to go and do this, but he told me, no. So God, who is more powerful here? Have you ever felt like that before that God called you to something that's greater than you and you finally said I'm gonna stick my neck out for this or I'm gonna go out on a limb and I'm gonna do this.
Speaker 1:And you do it for God, and it doesn't go well for you. I want you to know that it doesn't always go well for us when we follow Jesus. It doesn't always go well for you when you follow Jesus. We're not that kind of church that would lie to you and tell you, as long as if you just follow Jesus, then everything's just going to be okay. Because that is actually not even a pattern of scripture. God had already told Moses and you're going to go to him and he is going to tell you. No, in fact, god even told Abraham that hundreds of years earlier. But then, thousands of years later, jesus comes and Jesus says this that you are going to have tribulation. Jesus tells us do not be afraid of the world, don't fear the world, because we are going to have tribulation.
Speaker 1:And so Moses goes back to the people of God and Pharaoh makes this command to the Egyptians on the Israelites, saying man, if they think they want to get out of here, how about we just put them even harder to work Now? They have to gather their own straw to make their own bricks. Now, pharaoh's mad at Moses, the Israelites are mad at Moses. Nobody likes Moses and Moses going to God like God. What is going on here, god? What have you called me to do? It ever happen to you that you're called to lead your family, lead your home, lead your office, lead your school into following after Jesus, and all it does is it makes enemies and people just get mad at you. This is exactly what Moses is feeling during this time. God, I'm trying to obey you, but God, this is not going well.
Speaker 1:Well, let me share with you just a little theological picture of what's going on here, because we need to see the theology behind this story in order to understand the story in all of its glory. Is that, ultimately, we have to remember that this is not just about Pharaoh, this is not just about Egypt, this is not just about 400 years of slavery, this is not just about Moses, this is not just about the Israelites. What this is about is God is saying that we have a real enemy and his name is Satan, the accuser, and he is the real taskmaster. And he is saying God is telling us in this story this is a physical picture of your spiritual reality is that all that Satan wants to do is enslave you in sin. Satan wants to do is enslave you in sin, but the only way to not be enslaved in sin is to be delivered by Jesus, to be delivered by our deliverer, who is able to deliver us out of sin, to be able to follow after God. That's exactly what is going on here, and so here's what we see in the scriptures.
Speaker 1:Here's what happens next. It says in chapter six, verses 6 and 7,. It says say. Therefore, god told Moses say to the people of Israel I am the Lord. I want you to see something here very quickly that when we study these plagues very quickly, I need you to see that we're not just seeing the wrath of God, we're also seeing the heart of God, that God is not just upstairs in heaven laughing and pouring out these plagues on the people of Egypt. In fact, we see the patience of God. God doesn't want to do this. That's why we see Moses going to Pharaoh over and over and over. All right, that plague is over, now will you let us go? This next one doesn't have to happen. We see the patience of God. We see the love of God.
Speaker 1:In fact, in this story we see that God's not even anti-Pharaoh, he's not even anti-Egypt. There's been a lot of Pharaohs before then and Egypt had existed long ago before then and God had never done this. But why was God doing this? Because God had had enough. It had been 430 years of Egypt not letting his people go. And so God is saying it is time that I deliver my people. God is saying it is time that he takes matters into his own hands.
Speaker 1:What God is doing is he is judging. The sin in Pharaoh, the sin in Egypt, is what we see here in this passage. So he goes on and he says I am the Lord. Tell Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will deliver you from slavery to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. What we're seeing here is that the plagues are to deliver the people of God. In other words, judgment. The purpose of judgment is for salvation. The purpose of judgment is for salvation. That's why we see in Exodus 6.8,. He says I will bring you into the land that I swore to give you to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord. Watch this. God says the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord and when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them. In other words, god is saying the purpose of the plague is so that people would know from among them. In other words, god is saying the purpose of the plague is so that people would know who I am. God is saying if they only knew who I was, they would follow me. If they only knew who I am, they would obey me.
Speaker 1:I think that there are so many people in our lives, in our families, in our friendships, in our workplaces. In our lives, in our families, in our friendships, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, in our communities, that are unsaved, and the reason they are unsaved is because they've never fully heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think it is possible to live in the Bible belt and not to hear that God loves them. I think it's possible to live in the Bible belt and not to hear that God loves them. I think it's possible to live in the Bible belt and to not hear that Jesus died for their sin, that Jesus rose from the dead and that God is for them and that God wants to deliver them out of their sin by expressing and confessing God, I'm a sinner and, god, I need you to save me. I think that there are people, because there are so many false gospels out there and they get so confused about what really is true that they need to hear. No, we serve a gracious God. Yes, he judges sin, but his heart is to deliver, his heart is to save, and that's why he sent his son to die on the cross, to raise from the dead, so that you can invite him into your life. It is not just being a good person, it's not just quote having faith, it is giving your life to Jesus Christ and his life being applied to your life so that you live in him. I think there's so many people that they're not saved because they've never heard the truth of who is the Lord. He said I want the Egyptians to know that I am God. This is the whole point. He's saying I want the Israelites, my people, to know that I am God. He's saying I want the whole world to know that I am God. And so my question for you this morning is do you know that he is God? Do you know him on a personal level, in a personal relationship? We see over and over and over again in the story that Pharaoh's heart is hardened, it's hard towards God, and this story reminds us and encourages us to not have a hard heart towards the Lord, but allow the Spirit of God to soften your heart toward Him as we look through the plagues.
Speaker 1:I wanna take you through these 10 plagues very quickly. As we look through these plagues, I want you to see just a few things here. First of all, the word plague. You can write this down. The word plague actually means to strike, to hit or to intensely touch, and we see these 10 plagues here and these 10 plagues are a little bit of an unfolding that God is turning up the heat. We see the patience of God, but also we see the intensity of God. We see that God started to get their attention so that hopefully after the first plague that they would turn, but we know that they did not and God had to go through all 10. We see a few things here that I just want to point out to you.
Speaker 1:If I can just nerd out for a second in Old Testament theology for anybody that likes to nerd out, can we do that for just one second? Let me show you a couple things. First of all, you can break the plagues up into couples. The first two plagues come out of the Nile. The second two plagues involve insects. The third two plagues involve disease. The fourth, two plagues you'll see that are on all the plant life, and the last two plagues are just a serious reminder of the intensity of the wrath of God. Or we've had scholars tell us that you can actually look at the plagues in triads, if you will, or groups of three. Let me explain very quickly, and if this bores you wake back up in a second.
Speaker 1:Here we go the first, the first of the triad, the one, the four and the seven. The first of each three it's interesting, moses goes out to talk to Pharaoh at the Nile. The second of each three, the second, the fifth, the eighth is when Moses goes to the house. Four, five and six. The second, three is when God distinguishes his people and the plagues don't happen to the people of God, only to the Egyptians. And then, of course, the last, I'm sorry, the third, the sixth and the ninth. There is no warning. So just so you can see what's going on here.
Speaker 1:The blood, the first plague that God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh that's going to happen, to let his people go or this is going to happen. The blood that the Nile itself, the source of their very life, the Nile itself was a God to them, that the Nile would turn to blood, and the Nile did. And all of the water of the Nile, no matter what basin or jar or cup that it was in, all of the water of the Nile instantly turned into blood, killed all of the animal life, the marine life in the Nile, all the fish, and the Bible says that it stunk. Pharaoh didn't let them go, so frogs Frogs were known as sacred in that land. They were sacred, and the Bible says that all these frogs came up out of the Nile. The frogs came up on the land. The Bible says that frogs came up into their house. The Bible says that frogs came into their beds, that there were so many frogs they could not have, they could not do anything with them. And then the Bible says that all of the frogs just instantly died wherever they were. And the Bible says the land stunk, showing how sin smells to God.
Speaker 1:Third is the gnats. This just looks almost kind of annoying. We're not exactly sure what type of insect this is, but if you've ever run into a cloud of gnats before, instantly you're just waving around. You just try to get out of the cloud of gnats as quickly as possible to where there around you just try to get out of the cloud of gnats as quickly as possible to where there's a clearing and, if you can imagine, in an entire land and an entire country, all there were were gnats, a cloud of gnats. Wherever you went, you could not get away from the gnats.
Speaker 1:Next were the flies. Just so you know, if my wife was Pharaoh, she was giving in right here at the flies. She's done right. She hates flies. If a fly gets in the house, loses her mind. We're all chasing the fly around. It's awesome. And I took her to a restaurant one time, very rustic, so rustic. There were flies in it. She literally says out loud where people can hear her. She says is anybody else seeing this besides me? To which I said, check, please. Seeing this besides me? To which I said, check, please. It was one of my favorite moments. It was on our anniversary and the flies there were just flies absolutely everywhere made the land stink.
Speaker 1:Five things start to get real serious the livestock, their animals, their food source, clothing, vehicles, work equipment gets diseased and many of them die. Number six all the Egyptians start to get boils. Many of them die. Number seven God sends torrential hail on the land of Egypt. Four, five, six. It doesn't happen to the Israelites, only to the Egyptians. The hail is meant to kill off any animal life that is left and to start to kill off the plant life there. And also we see hail killing people and then next the locust. They eat whatever plant life is even left. What is God doing? He wants them to see that he is God.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in Colossians, chapter 117, that Jesus holds all things together, in other words, plagues. The plagues are a glimpse of when you remove Jesus from the situation. What does the earth look like? Everything falls apart. Everything is chaos. We see the locusts coming in, eating up all the plant life, and then number nine darkness. The Bible says that they literally could not see their hand in front of their own face. They could not see another face in front of their face. That it was pandemonium, it was chaos.
Speaker 1:And then the last one, number 10. The worst of all, it was the one that God had actually said was going to happen, but Pharaoh did not believe him. God had warned him and God said that it would be the death of the firstborn, of every son, but also every beast that had been born in the land of Egypt. And what is God doing? He's doing something very strategic here. He's doing something very important.
Speaker 1:If we go back to Exodus 4, verse 22,. God tells Moses you shall say to Pharaoh. Thus says the Lord Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you let my son go that he may serve me. Lord Israel is my firstborn son and I say to you let my son go that he may serve me. And if you refuse to let my firstborn son go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.
Speaker 1:In this plague here, what we see, number two, is we see the Passover of God. We see how the Passover of God reveals the salvation of God. See, god is not just a God of judgment, he's also a God of salvation. If he was only a God of judgment, then who could love him? But if he was only a God of love and mercy and grace all the time, then who would fear him? Who would love him? But if he was only a God of love and mercy and grace all the time, then who would fear him? Who would worship him? Who would obey him?
Speaker 1:We see here that, as God is pronouncing this final, awful, terrifying, tragic plague, awful, terrifying, tragic plague, that it also applies to Israel and not just Egypt. Why? Because God is saying Israel. Just because you're a part of my people, just because you're in the group, just because you're in the family, just because you're in the assembly, just because you're in the family, just because you're in the assembly doesn't make you automatically saved, just as God would tell me. And God would tell you. Just because you're a part of your Christian family, just because you're a part of this church, just because you're in the Bible Belt, just because you're in this country or whatever that different people can believe in, and if you're watching online or if you're in the Bible belt, just because you're in this country or whatever that different people can believe in, and if you're watching online or if you're here in this room, hearing me right now, does not make you automatically a Christian, doesn't make you automatically saved.
Speaker 1:See, in this plague, in the judgment of God, god extended grace, god gave an opportunity and this is an unbelievable picture of the gospel, because what God said is I want each family to take a lamb, each household to take a lamb, and it was called the Passover lamb. Why was it called the Passover lamb? Because if you took this lamb and you sacrificed this lamb and you smeared or spread its blood on the doorpost. Some historians tell us that it could somehow be in the shape of a cross that when God would pass by and require the life of the firstborn, that God would apply grace and mercy and salvation to that home. The Bible says that he commanded his children, the children of Israel, to sacrifice a Passover lamb that was supposed to be without blemish. Why? Because Jesus was sinless. They would sacrifice the lamb, they would apply its blood on the door. The Bible says that they would eat, they would roast the meat with the herbs, with the vegetables, and it says that they would make unleavened bread that night. Why? Because he said make unleavened bread with this meal, because it takes too much time for leaven to rise. I need you to be ready to go. I'm delivering you out of slavery. I'm delivering you out of slavery. I'm getting you out of here.
Speaker 1:And this is a picture of the gospel for my life. This is a picture of the gospel for your life. Can you imagine being there in that scene, in that story, in that moment that you've just got to witness nine plagues by God and now you are going through the 10th? It's the worst and God tells you to do something so crazy, to put blood on your doorpost so that he would pass by, so that death doesn't come to your house.
Speaker 1:And the point is that the judgment of God and the salvation of God all come together in the same event that is called the crucifixion of Jesus. That God judges my sin and he judges your sin and he judges the sin of the world and the person and the son of Jesus Christ. That Jesus goes through our judgment, our hell, everything that is meant for us, for my sin, for your sin, in the body, in the person of Jesus, so that we can be saved. Which is why we see that 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7 says for Christ is our Passover lamb and he has been sacrificed. If we're there during that time, our minds are blown. We have seen God dismantle the most powerful empire of the entire world in just a matter of days, the entire world in just a matter of days. We have seen God sweep through their land and require of their life and, at the same time, even though we are sinners like them, god spares us because we trust him, because we know him, because we believe in him.
Speaker 1:Which means the point of this passage is this have you applied the blood of Jesus to your life? See, it's not enough that Jesus has died for you. It's not enough that they sacrificed the lamb. What had to happen was they had to apply the blood to the door. Have you applied the blood of Jesus to your life, believed in him, trusted in him? That this is the only way that we can be delivered, this is the only way that we can be saved. That he is our Passover lamb, that he has taken our judgment and he alone has become our salvation. And if you have, then, like the Israelites, then here's what we do. Then we live amazed at what God has done for us, that we never deserved it, that we ourselves are no different from the world, that we are sinners just like they are, and we live in worship and we live in obedience and we live as a witness, telling them that God has delivered me and that God can deliver you. God has saved me and God can save you, that God does not delight in the perishing of the wicked. The Bible says what God delights in is when a sinner comes to repentance, that God loves you and God wants to save you. But you have to apply the gospel to your life.
Speaker 1:Some 15 years ago, 13 years ago, I lived in Alabama when tornadoes swept through that area dozens of tornadoes, april 27, 2011. And there was a young girl in our student ministry. Her name was Danae. Danae was in a house that a tornado hit. Tornado is coming for her neighborhood so quickly. Her dad says go down to the basement right now. Dad grabs her. They run down the steps. She falls down. He falls down on top of her. Tornado hits the house and the chimney falls on top of him. Who's on top of her? He dies, she lives. I'll never forget.
Speaker 1:After a couple of weeks, she walked into our student ministry. She told everybody the story and we heard her praise and honor and glorify God. Praise and honor and glorify God With that event that happened in her life and she compared it. She likened it to the gospel that Jesus has died so that we might live. Danae, today I see her on Facebook. Every once in a while She'll pop up and I'll see her. She's like traveling the world and I can't imagine how often she tells that story about her dad and that she's alive because he died. But also I know she's a believer in Jesus and she can use that story to tell anyone, because Jesus spiritually, physically died for her, that she can spiritually eternally live for him. We can worship God because he's a God of judgment. He must judge sin to be a good God and he must save sinners Like he saved me and like he can save you.
Speaker 1:Let's all bow our heads and close our eyes this morning. Every head bowed, every eye closed during this time. I just wanna encourage you that maybe you are here this morning, maybe you are saved, maybe you've given your life to Jesus and maybe this is an opportunity this morning that you just need to respond to God and, however, that he has spoken to you this morning and just say God, you've spoken to me in this way and God helped me to live for you. God helped me to respond to you, god helped me to live for you. Or maybe you're here this morning and Jesus has spoken to you so personally that today is your day of salvation. You need to give your life to him today and I want you to know I can't save you, I can't pray this prayer for you, but I can lead you through this prayer and the Bible promises that he will save you. Do you mean this with all of your heart.
Speaker 1:You can pray in your own words, from your own heart, right now. You can just tell him God, I believe in you, god, I need you. You can tell him God, I believe that Jesus died for my sin and I want to ask you to forgive me of all of my sin and I want to turn from my sin and I want to turn and I want to ask you to forgive me of all of my sin and I want to turn from my sin and I want to turn and I want to give and I want to live my life for Jesus, your son and God. I believe that Jesus didn't stay dead, but he rose from the dead. You can tell God God, I believe that he's alive, he rose from the dead and I want to live my life for him. And the Bible promises that when you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Speaker 1:God, we believe that, god, we know that and, father, I pray, for anyone that doesn't know you yet, that they will have prayed that this morning, giving their very life to you. Thank you that you've judged our sin in Jesus and you've also saved us from our sins through him as well. We love you in Jesus' name, and all God's people said put your hands together for anybody that gave their life to Jesus this morning. We believe the Bible says that heaven rejoices every time that a sinner repents. I'm going to ask you just to stand up right now and I want to pray for us one more time. Go ahead and stand up, and I just want to pray. I want to pray right now. I want us to end this time in a powerful time of worship, and I want you to worship God in this last song like you've never worshiped him before, because he's judged your sin and he's saved you both wrapped up all in one in Jesus Christ. Let's pray once more.
Speaker 1:Heavenly Father, we love you and God. We just thank you for this story in the book of Exodus. God, we thank you for the way that your spirit has moved. God. We thank you that you have shown us, god, how you feel about sin. God, thank you for judging our sins so that we don't have to live in our sin. God, thank you for saving us in your son, jesus Christ and God. We love you and God. We just pray, lord, that we would lift our voices in this last song, that we would worship Jesus with all that we are, because he has given us all that he is. And, god, we pray that you would get all of the glory, all of the honor and all of the praise from our worship, from our life, from our church and Father, we love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name. And all God's people said